The room beyond the doors is 60'x30' running E/W with a 10' opening leading into a large hallway on the S side.
"Two huge crystal tanks stand in the center of the room, each filled with what appears to be boiling blood infused with periodic blasts of violet electricity. A complex series of metal pipes, struts, and violet crystal tubes shrouds and cradles these tanks, connecting to the walls and ceiling of the chamber in dozens of spots."
The smell of ozone and oil permeates the air spilling out from the room.
As you approach the doors you can hear a mechanical roaring and shrieking behind them. Heat and vibrations can be felt through the heavy doorframe.
The double doors in the E wall open and reveal a long flight of stairs leading up and to the S. There appears to be a door at the top of the stairs.
The single door in the SW corner opens to a long curving hallway that appears to spiral down and inward, eventually heading NW.
You get the sense that this room is part of the machinery that powers the infernal engine. You figure with enough time you could probably determine how to disable the valve and shut down the power from this room. It seems that there is a strange slot specifically designed for some type of key rod that would normally be used to disable the mechanism.
With your skill you easily find an otherwise cleverly hidden secret door. On the other side a circular room about 40' across:
"This circular chamber looks similar to a silo, the floor and ceiling
dropping away for twenty feet in either direction. Above, the
ceiling appears to be scorched stone, while twenty feet below,
the chamber ends in a pool of boiling, steaming dark water.
A five-foot-wide walkway around the edge of the silo allows
passage between doors on either side. The walls of the room
are a complex tangle of purple crystalline pipes and metal tubes,
many of which steam with heat. A complex-looking metal and
crystal valve, its face a twisted clot of slots and nodules, glows
softly on one wall just above the walkway."
Your best guess is that it's natural, but certain sections do look clawed out and enlarged. Even with that, the tunnel is tight and the ceiling low. The going is uncomfortable, especially for Ragnar, as it meanders N for some 100' or so before turning W and ending in a plain stone wall.
A tunnel winds away into darkness on the Northern end of the cave.
After a few minutes of fruitless poking around the nest and the surrounding area you hear Ragnar lumbering towards you, his huge frame bent nearly in half to fit in the small space.
You slay the fox-like creature before it has a chance to respond...
***end of combat***
Alamin and Uuranx combine to take down a third skull!
Last skull of doom:
bite: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 on: 1d3 ⇒ 3
Gives a hearty kiss to Vraxel! DC 16 FORT save or read above.
Next round...
1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28
You calmly stalk up to the creature and land four deadly blows upon it! The creature's otherworldly fur seems to take some of the sting off of your attacks but it still looks badly mauled. The thing looks up at you and bares its teeth.
CaldirINIT: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (2) + 18 = 20
creatureINIT: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
It doesn't look evil and the language it speaks seems to be maybe some form of celestial although you hear a few words of devil speak intermixed. However, something looks wrong/sick about it and where once it must have had lustrous fur, now it is streaked with dark patches of oil and ooze. You think some of the bones in its nest are probably human...
perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15
You sneakily sneak in to the low ceilinged room to find what looks like some type of nest made of rags, rubble, and bone in the NW corner. There is a passage heading N in the center of the N wall.
A strange human-fox female hybrid appears to be resting in the 'nest'. You hear soft murmurs as if she is speaking to herself.
A natural cave tunnel snakes off to the E. The ceiling height is barely 4'. Medium creatures passing through will have to treat it as difficult terrain.
The air is moist and there is a foul stench to it.
You are more than a little surprised to find not only are the chests not trapped, they aren't even locked!
The first chest holds 2,400 GP worth of jewlery, art, silverware, and other finery looted from the ruins of the Mayor's abode.
The second chest holds items later identified as:
+1 dwarven waraxe, a wand of quench (11 charges), and a phylactery of positive channeling.
Finding the door of no threat, you open it and advance down a 20' hallway that ends in a 10'x10'.
"Two heavy chests made of iron and bearing complex-looking
locks sit against the west wall of this room."
Your thorough search also reveals a secret door in the NE corner of the room.
"An empty weapon rack lines the northern wall of this otherwise
empty room."
There is also a door in the NW corner of the room.
A round later, you and Ragnar have easily dispatched the once mighty hounds.
***end of combat***
You and Ragnar hack away at the carnivorous canines but they keep coming!
Slathering and snapping:
On Caldir:
bite: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
bite: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
bite: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25
On Ragnar:
bite: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
bite: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14
bite: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24
Ragnar's last off balance swing opens up his flank to a ferocious bite doing CHOMP!: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (6, 6) + 6 = 18. The creature's other two heads howl in anticipation of their own taste of man flesh. HOOOOWWWWWL! The deafening sound probably alerts anything in the vicinity of your presence.
Next round.
As you approach the room, you catch a whiff of what smells like dog scat/urine and rotting flesh.
As you enter the area you see two massive dog like creatures-over 4 feet tall at the shoulders and every bit of 200+ pounds; every strip of this three-headed hound's hide has been peeled away, leaving wet sinew and bulging tendons exposed.
Sensing you they snarl and attack!
CaldirInit: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34
RagnarInit: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16
doggy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Finding the way safe and unlcoked, you open the door to reveal a long hallway stretching out into the distance ending in what may be a room at the end. There are two doors in the N wall about 20' apart.
You hacke through the first two while Ragnar finishes off the last one.
Three dead men lie at your feet.
3 sets of +1 leather, MW rapier/hand xbow, 900 GP worth of coin and effects, 3 potions of CMW.
Doors in the E and W walls.
Much refreshed you return to the remains of the Mayor's building. Opening the door, you note that the stairs now descend into gloomy darkness ending in a 15'x15' room with two doors on opposite E/W walls.
CP: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (9) + 18 = 27
RP: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22
As you look about the room noting the decorative banners hanging from ceiling to floor and depicting the circled crimson cross of Cheliax, you also notice 3 figures skulking about in the shadows. They appear to be lying in wait for you but you get the drop on them instead.
Your action.
The potions clear up your negative levels, but the sickness persists until you wake the next day. Sometimes natural rest is just the only cure.
The NSN wish you luck as they head back to the streets in their efforts to help the city's citizens.
Any other actions before heading down the stairs of doom?
Warning the Dottari guards about what you have faced so far, you make your way back to the NSN sanctuary only to fiend that Arael is currently out with Janiven providing aid to the city's populace. A runner is sent to find them as you are brought food and drink and given a comfortable place to rest.
After several hours a ragged looking Arael and Janiven return and you share your story with them while they tell you about their efforts to contain the chaos that it sweeping over the streets of the city of Westcrown. Apparently the Mayor has fled and the Dottari and Hellknights are now striving with one another for authority over to the city. Devils, mostly minor, are sighted on the streets and have been attacking the populace and the worst urges of many have led to looting, robbery, and worse.
Hearing of your injuries, Arael goes to his stores and hands each of you a potion. I only have these two, so hopefully you don't face any more lords of death in your travels. Ineheritor with you my friends and thank you for all your efforts. With that he wearily heads off to rest.
Each of you has receive a potion of greater restoration.
You are JUST able to disable a particularly tricky sonic glyph of warding. After a few minutes, the lock yields to you as well. You notice that this is not the first time this lock has been picked; the other time being apparently within the last day or so by someone at least as skilled with the art of tumblers as yourself.
Well crafted stairs lead downward into what looks like a small lit room some 50' below. The walls are of reinforced masonry and also look to be well made. The ceiling of the stairwell is about 8' in height. There is a smell of ozone and smoke rising up from below and you can hear what sounds like the noise of machinery working in the distance.
As you open the door there is a slight tremor and the pillars of flame surrounding the area belch out an extra burst of fire.
No take 20? :D
A thorough search of this crumbling room shows up nothing of value. You do, however, get the sense that these creatures were specifically placed here to guard the entrance to the building and that someone probably created them recently from the souls of folk killed during the explosion.
There was one unexplored 10'x10' room remaining on this level:
"The contents of this storage room have been removed, leaving
behind nothing but empty shelves. An old bedroll and a stained
sack sit on the floor."
Caldir perception: 1d20 + 18 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 18 + 4 = 29
The sack contains spoiling bread and cheese, and the bedroll is
unremarkable.
There remains only the door that you first saw before exploring the rest of the building:
"The once-grand banquet hall lies in ruins, shattered
chandeliers and crushed tables cluttering the floor under the
fragmentary remains of a roof. Yet to the west, the wall of
the manor’s easternmost wing still stands, and in the middle
of this wall looms a towering black stone door, six feet wide
and fourteen feet tall."
Ragnar hacks through the remaining wounded shadow.
***end of combat***
Ragnar hammers through the second of his shadows while you take out your first.
The last one attacks 1d2 ⇒ 2 Ragnar:
claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18
To no avail...
Last round?
Rangar shatters one of the two he faces, while you hack one up pretty good.
Round 2:
On you:
dark claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
dark claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
On Ragnar:
dark claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24
You both resist!
This crumbled room is open to the outside. It is also the den for a nest of Shadows. They attack!
CaldirInit: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (11) + 15 = 26
RagnarInit: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
shadow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
They seem to have been almost waiting for you and swarm over you, their inky blackness making your hairs stand on end.
2 on Caldir:
dark claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
dark claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
2 on Ragnar:
dark claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
dark claws: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21
They are unable to penetrate your defenses!
Searching the room, but keeping eyes out on the doors, you determine that it was previously occupied by a medium sized female that was enjoying the luxurious furnishings and provisions.
As you begin to search the room, suddenly all four doors suddenly open on their own!
After a brief struggle, the door yields to you manipulation.
Within: "Despite cracks in the wall, a sunken section of floor where the foundation has partially collapsed, and a few other signs of the
devastation surrounding the area outside, this comfortable
lounge is clean and almost comfortable looking. A private bar
runs along the western wall, and a long divan that someone
seems to have been using as a bed sits in the middle of the
room facing a large, ornate fireplace."
There is a nice fire in the fireplace and what appears to be a 3/4 full drink of spirits sitting on the bar.
Doors in the N wall, the WN wall, and the WS wall.
The door appears to be securely locked against intruders.
"A large fireplace in the east wall of this room overlooks a large
marble bath set in the floor, filled with clear water."
There is a door in the middle of both the W and N walls.
You figure the W door leads out to the hallway and the N door to ?
The sickness is a 24HR effect.
Ragnar regains his STR after a few minutes.
The levels are the levels. OUCH!
There are 2 doors to the E that open to storage rooms with nothing of real value in them.
There is a single door to the W that opens into the hallway you saw from the first room you entered and a door to the N that opens into?
You figure your invisible spellcaster fled through that door.
The slain foes have a total of (what you later discover to be):
8 potions CMW
8 +1 leathers
8 MW rapiers
8 MW hand Xbows
2400 GP of gold, gems, and items
You hack down the remainder of melee foes and look about for the spellcaster but find nothing.
***end of combat***
You and Ragnar both drop a foe a piece. 2 still remain on him and 1 on you.
On Ragnar:
blade: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
blade: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26
On you:
blade: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
A corsucating ray lances out at Ragnar:
ray: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23 dealing 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 points of STR damage!
Next round.
Ragnar hacks through one of the bowmen while you wound but not kill another. The remaining 5 pull swords and engage in hand to hand.
On Ragnar:
rapier: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
rapier: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
rapier: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
On Caldir:
rapier: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
rapier: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
In retort to Ragnar's comments, 5 magic missiles blast out at him:
MM: 5d5 + 5 ⇒ (1, 1, 2, 3, 4) + 5 = 16
Party action
Caldir wrote: How close are the crossbow foes and the spellcasting foe? Move and attack the spellcaster as many times as I can.
[dice=rapier]1d20+18-6
[dice=dam]1d6+11-2
[dice=dagger]1d20+16-6
[dice=dam]1d4+11-2
[dice=rapier]1d20+13-6
[dice=dam]1d6+11-2
[dice=dagger]1d20+11-6
[dice=dam]1d4+11-2
Touch AC=22 or 20 if reduced by sickened
-20hp
-4 levels
sickened
Have to cut through the x-bowmen to get to the spellcaster (whom you still have not seen).
You and Ragnar manage to finish off the melee foes but another hail of bolts flies at you:
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
As well as 3 more rays. "Fortunately" these are of the scorching variety:
On Caldir
Ray1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
damage if that hits your touch AC: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 6, 6) = 21
On Ragnar
Ray2: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Ray3: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
flaming ouchy on Ragnar: 8d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 6, 3, 3, 4, 6, 5) = 32
Party go!
Between the two of you three of the assailants go down under bloody blades.
Hail of bolts and blades:
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
bolt: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 1d2 ⇒ 2
Ragnar is hit for 1d4 ⇒ 4 and saves against DC 18 FORT 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
blade: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
blade: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27 1d2 ⇒ 1
Two black rays arc out from the back of the room, one on Caldir and one on Ragnar (ranged touch attack):
Caldir Ray: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
Caldir takes 1d6 ⇒ 4 negative levels and is sickened for 24 hours.
Ragnar Ray: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Ragnar takes 1d6 ⇒ 5 negative levels and is sickened for 24 hours.
Party's up...
Thrown off by the need to act 'casual' as you advance into the room and attempt to surprise the surprisers, you are still able to cut down your foe. Ragnar waits until he sees you make your move and quickly advances to take down another opponenet.
Almost a dozen other figures prepare to engage you:
CaldirInit: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28
RagnarInit: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
foes: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20
As you head towards the room you can easily make out a few forms attempting to hide in ambush.
You and Ragnar can act with a surprise round if you wish.
Your quick look within reveal what looks like the remain of a library.
Looks like the prior occupant was diminutive in stature-either a halfling or a gnome. There are some papers lying about that would indicate the inhabitant was a magic user of some sort. You find a secret compartment in the headboard that has already been looted.
You are just barely able to overcome the magical lock on this door.
Looking inside you find a room 15'x15':
"This well-appointed room seems to have been recently cleaned
and organized. Cracks in the wall, and a particularly large
crack on the side of the fireplace to the northeast, are the only
testament to the ruins to which the rest of the house has been
reduced. The rest of this bedroom seems quite well lived-in."
There is a door in the NW wall. It appears as if this room was until just recently occupied.
It's a small room 10'x15' with a door in the E wall and one in the N.
You see Ragnar has scoped out the room fairly well by the time you come in and he tell you that the E door is firmly locked, but the door to the N is open and there is a hallway running N for 60'+ with a door in the E wall. He couldn't see the end of the hallway.
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